Soccer official dies after attack by teenage players

(CNN) -- A volunteer Dutch soccer official died on Monday after being beaten up by teenage players following a match the previous day.

Richard Nieuwenhuizen was pronounced dead at 5:30 p.m. local time in the hospital of Nieuwegein, according to his club Buitenboys.

The 41-year-old had been a linesman in an amateur game between Buitenboys and Amsterdam-based Nieuwe Sloten in the city of Almere.

He was attacked after the match by three Nieuwe Sloten players, who were arrested at their homes in Amsterdam on Sunday according to the Dutch News website.

"The KNVB is deeply shocked ... After intervention of the police and the arrival of an ambulance, he was in critical condition and transported to a hospital. There he died Monday afternoon," reported the website of the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB).

Its director of amateur football, Anton Binnenmars, added: "Let me, on behalf of the entire KNVB and all its members, offer my sympathy to the families and friends of the victim. It is outrageous that someone enjoying a hobby can be victim of such aggression."

Nieuwe Sloten issued a statement on its website saying the club would help with the police investigation, and that anyone involved in the attack would be expelled.

"Violence should not be on the football fields. And certainly not against referees, linesmen and all those others who volunteer each year to over a million amateur footballers. We must do everything possible to eliminate these excesses," it said.